I was amused at the notion of this, and wondered if people would fall for it. It’s possible, I mean, we all spent a lot of money converting our hard earned dollars into flashes and noise for entertainment without any hope of a payoff, other than better skills to doing so ;)

Looks like we know how the EU Bureaucracy is going to respond to the school shooting in Finland. In addition to raising the age of possession to 18, they also plan:

In addition to making the age-limit more rigid, the EU wants its member states by 2014 to set up computerized databanks containing detailed information on each firearm and the names and addresses of both the supplier and buyer.

The data would be accessible to police and judicial authorities and would be kept on file for 20 years.

I’d say “Oh my, how horrible!” except that’s pretty much what we have here now, except the records aren’t computerized.

There’s a rumor circulating among Ron Paul fans out there that NRA was snubbing Ron Paul by not listing him as a candidate on the web site showing here. Well, the reason is because he didn’t come to the Celebration of American Values where the NRA hosted many presidential aspirants. I decided to e-mail them and ask them about this, and here was the response I got:

Congressman Ron Paul was invited to the National Rifle Association’s Celebration of American Values. The NRA did not receive a response from him. As a result, there is no mention of him in the article. If Congressman Paul had accepted the invitation, or contacted the NRA prior to the event, every effort would have been made to accommodate his appearance. In fact, NRA did work with a number of candidates who did not RSVP and we facilitated their appearance in person or via videotaped message. The same courtesy would have been given to the Ron Paul campaign had they contacted us. If and when the NRA has another candidate forum, we hope that Congressman Paul would participate – either in person, or via videotaped message.

I have to wonder how many people who started spreading this rumor even bothered to try to find out what the truth was. At least the guy I liked to e-mailed.

We always hear the Brady’s whine about how preemption prevents local communities from being able to enact reasonable gun control that is appropriate for those communities. Apparently in Illinois, they are pushing for preemption on local ordinances in an effort to close FFLs, like Chuck’s Gun Shop.

In last night’s Republican YouTube debate, a questioner submitted this video of himself shooting what looks like an AK-type semi-automatic assault rifle at a target in the desert. In less than two seconds, self-identified NRA Life Member Jay Fox fires off six rounds. (Check the timing of the video yourself.)

It’s not an AK-47. You can see clearly in the screen shots that it’s not:

That’s clearly a monte carlo stock, and not a pistol grip that you’d expect to find on a Kalashnikov.

The magazine lacks the banana shape of the AK-47 magazine. Pretty clearly this is some type of .223 semi-automatic rifle. And, like we’ve been saying, any semi-automatic rifle can fire six shots quickly, even ones that are available, as this firearm would be, in all the states that have assault weapons bans because this firearm is not an assault weapon by any legal definition. And no state bans 10 round magazines.

So Paul may have thought this was a clever “gotcha” moment to introduce his admonishment that gun violence isn’t funny, but it’s another distortion. Besides, what does a guy having some pinking fun with a semi-automatic rifle in the desert have to do with gun violence? Do you think Jay Fox is going to go mow down a school next? This tells you a lot about how these people think.

UPDATE: Turns out Jay Fox is a resident of California, which bans assault weapons. So that rifle is most definitely NOT an assault weapon. Brady wants the entire country to pass a California style ban, yet they are still unhappy with this ordinary semi-automatic rifle’s rate of fire, which any self-loading firearm is capable of. Of course, they say they don’t want to ban all semi-automatic rifles, but do you believe them? I don’t.

UPDATE: I just got an e-mail from Jay Fox. It’s a Kel-Tec SU-16 rifle, which is not an assault weapon, and legal in California. He also mentioned the shotgun in the video was unloaded, and was tossed rather than handed for effect. Hey, it worked didn’t it? His video got picked. I thought it was pretty good.

David is prompting gun owners to contact their Attorney General. Yesterday I sent a letter off to Tom Corbett who is Attorney General for Pennsylvania. He’s on the short list for a run for Governor when Fast Eddie’s term is up in 2010, and I think this would be a great way for him to get a leg up on other Republicans candidates, and provide some hope for gun owners in Pennsylvania who are getting sick of Ed Rendell.

Bitter and I were talking last night about how it would be great if we could get briefs filed by attorneys generals from enough states to re-ratify the second amendment. That would be a powerful message to The Court.

Let me know if you need help with figuring out how to contact your state attorney general. It’s important that we get on this, because the stakes have never been higher.

So, anti-gun forces are on the march in Pennsylvania with the help of our Governor, to rally Mayors around the state to make a final push to convince the legislature to infringe on that which shall not be questioned.

In Washington, where Joyce is funding a conspiracy against the federal and Washington constitutions in an effort to get folks fired up about gun control in that state.

In Virginia now, they are pushing to end preemption, hoping that the change in power in the Virginia Senate will lend them some good fortune.

What is it we’re witnessing here? My opinion: desperation. They have to score a victory, and with the Heller case looming, it’s more important now than ever. If they can show no political progress on the issue, and Heller wins, they are in a lot of trouble. Bryan Miller may be ho-hum about it, but I believe within the next year we have the opportunity, if we work hard and are vigilant enough, to end the current incarnation of the gun control movement.

Don’t get me wrong, gun control isn’t going away. But a Heller win will force advocates of it to change tactics. It could put us on the offensive in a big way, and they know it. The immediate practical significance of Heller might be slight, but it’s a huge rhetorical defeat for the gun control movement. I predict if Heller wins, within several years you’ll see new opponents on this issue, with different tactics and ideas, with the debate on terms more favorable to gun rights.

So tonight I took the 10/22 to Indoor Silhouette night. We’re shooting at chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams at 25 yards. I scored 22 and 25. Standing position has never something I’ve been particularly good at, so I am hoping continuing to do this will improve my skills in this area. Maybe next time I will do better. The 10/22 was having issues because I haven’t cleaned it in a while. I’m thinking maybe a nice bolt action 22 is in order for this type of shooting.